Xbox Game Pass is the first true Gaming Netflix

Everyone around the Spoon Deep offices is excited about Sea of Thieves. We have been looking for an adventure game that we can play together at night that may actually help us relax after a stressful day of work, rather than get angry at losing yet another competitive match of Overwatch. But $59.99 is always a tough sell when there are so many other things vying for our hard earned cash. Chase wants a new computer, Brian wants a new piano, and Ian just wants to take a nap. Not to mention that I have a lot of games to buy each month. What if I told you that you could own the full version of Sea of Thieves for $9.99? Are you interested? Microsoft has just announced that the Xbox Game Pass will allow you to do just that.

Here is the official description of the service from xbox.com:

Get unlimited access to over 100 Xbox One and Xbox 360 games on Xbox One for one low monthly price. Play highly-anticipated new games like Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, and Crackdown 3 the day they’re released, and enjoy a wide variety of games, from recent blockbusters, to critically-acclaimed indie titles. Discover and download titles you’ve always wanted to play or revisit favorites that you’ve been missing. Games are selected for high ratings and fun, and if you love an Xbox One game currently in the existing catalog and want to own it, you can buy it and save up to 20%, plus get 10% off any Xbox One game add-on. With new games added every month, and the option to cancel anytime, Xbox Game Pass is your ticket to endless play. Sign in for your available offers. Promotional offers may not be valid for all members.

Microsoft recently announced that Sea of Thieves, State of Decay 2, Crackdown 3, as well as future Halo, Gears of War, Forza and all first party games will all be available via the Xbox Game Pass on the same date as their global release. I was also unaware of the 10% off any Xbox One game add-on. The value proposition here is huge.

Spencer views services like Netflix and Spotify as a way to gain more watchers, more listeners, and with the Xbox Game Pass, more players. This service will give players more choices when buying and playing games. Microsoft has also stated that first party games will be permanent additions to your Game Pass library. So you don’t have to worry about losing access to Sea of Thieves a few months after release.

Gamers can choose to go out and buy Sea of Thieves for $59.99 on March 20th, or they can choose to subscribe to Xbox Game Pass for $9.99 and receive access to it and over one hundred other games. With games moving in a more service-like direction this makes perfect sense. For better or for worse, players no longer own their own copies of the game. Even if you own a physical disc for a game on the Xbox One, that game most likely requires the Xbox Live servers or game specific updates and maintenance in order to become playable.

Games like Sea of Thieves also require players actively participating within the game world in order to achieve an optimal experience. With access to the game starting at $9.99, I can all but guarantee that the game will see a huge population during the first month. If Microsoft and Xbox can keep pushing regular updates to the Xbox Game Pass then players are more likely to continue subscribing and are more likely to keep playing Sea of Thieves. And Sea of Thieves currently occupies the top spot on twitch.tv so I think that at least some people are interested in the game.

People will always say that games are too expensive too make, and thus this program will ultimately fail or that Microsoft will not continue to release AAA games, like Halo, for the service. I strongly dislike the argument that games are too expensive to make. Games can be as expensive to make as the developers choose, poor budget management does not excuse the high price of games or $4.99 horse armor. I bet that House of Cards was expensive to make, but Netflix is still managing to stay afloat with a $7.99/month price tag.

This is exactly the shot in the arm that the Xbox needed. The Xbox has defined itself on the backs of multiplayer online experiences, some of which require constant updates and large player populations in order to succeed. Paying $9.99 a month in order to play Sea of Thieves, Halo 6,and Forza Horizon 4 sounds like a great deal. And if you stop playing games you can always cancel the subscription. Even if you don’t like any of the games I’ve mentioned thus far, check out some of the other games that you can add to your collection instantly:

#IDARB

10 Second Ninja X

A Kingdom for Keflings

A World of Keflings

Age of Booty

Bard’s Gold

Banjo-Kazooie

Banjo Kazooie: Nuts n Bolts

Banjo-Tooie

Bayonetta

Bionic Commando Rearmed 2

BioShock

BioShock 2

BioShock Infinite

Blood Bowl 2

Borderlands

Bound by Flame

Braid

Brothers: a Tale of Two Sons

CAPCOM ARCADE CABINET

Casey Powell Lacrosse 16

CastleStorm

Comic Jumper

Comix Zone

Costume Quest 2

D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die

Dark Void

Darksiders Warmastered Edition

Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition

Deadlight: Director’s Cut

Dead Island Definitive Edition

Dead Rising 3

Defense Grid 2

Defense Grid

Devil May Cry 4 SE

de Blob 2

DIG DUG

DiRT Rally

DmC Devil May Cry: Definitive Edition

Double Dragon Neon

Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara

Electronic Super Joy

F1 2015

Fable 2

Fable III

Farming Simulator 15

Final Fight: DblImpact

FLOCK!

Fuzion Frenzy (Original Xbox)

Galaga Legions DX

Garou Mark of the Wolves

Gears of War

Gears of War 2

Gears of War 3

Gears of War 4

Gears of War: Judgment

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition – Day One Version

GRID 2

Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition

Halo Wars Definitive Edition

Halo 5: Guardians

Halo: Spartan Assault

Hexic 2

Hue

Iron Brigade

Injustice: Gods Among Us

Jetpac Refuelled

Joe Danger 2: The Movie

Joe Danger Special Edition

Joy Ride Turbo

JumpJet Rex

Kameo

Knight Squad

KOF98UM

KYUB

Layers of Fear

LEGO Batman

Limbo

Lumo

Mad Max

MASSIVE CHALICE

Maldita Castilla EX – Cursed Castle

Mass Effect

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood

Mega Coin Squad

Mega Man™ Legacy Collection

Mega Man 9

Mega Man 10

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes

Metal Slug 3

Metal Slug XX

Metro: Last Light Redux

Monday Night Combat

Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine

Ms. Splosion Man™

MX vs ATV Reflex

N+

NBA 2K16

NBA Playgrounds

NEOGEO BATTLE COLISEUM

Ninja Gaiden Black (Original Xbox)

Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty

OlliOlli

OF: Dragon Rising

PAC-MAN CE DX+

PAC-MAN MUSEUM

PAYDAY 2: CRIMEWAVE EDITION

Perfect Dark Zero

Pharaonic

Pumped BMX +

ReCore Definitive Edition

Resident Evil 0

Resident Evil 6

Resident Evil HD

Roundabout

Sacred 3

Saints Row IV: Re-Elected

Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell

Sam&Max Beyond Time…

Sam&Max Save the World

Samurai Shodown II

ScreamRide

Sega Vintage Collection: Alex Kidd & Co.

Sega Vintage Collection: Golden Axe

Sega Vintage Collection: Monster World

Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage

Shantae and the Pirate’s Curse

Sherlock Holmes: The Devil’s Daughter

Sky Force Anniversary

So Many Me

SOULCALIBUR

SOULCALIBUR II HD

Spelunky

Splosion Man

Stacking

State of Decay

Steredenn

Strider

Sunset Overdrive

Super Mega Baseball: Extra Innings

Super Street Fighter IV

Super Time Force

Tecmo Bowl Throwback

TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT 2

Terraria

The Bridge

The Bug Butcher

The Flame in the Flood

The Golf Club

The Book of Unwritten Tales 2

The Maw

The Swapper

The World of Van Helsing: Deathtrap

This War of Mine: The Little Ones

Tower of Guns

Toy Soldiers

Toy Soldiers: Cold War

Ultratron

Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown

Viva Piñata

Viva Piñata: TIP

WRC 5: World Rally Championships

WWE 2K16

XCOM: Enemy Within

Zoo Tycoon

For the record, I will not be buying Sea of Thieves, I will be subscribing to Xbox Game Pass. And after 6 months, when I’ve paid $60.00 for the service and had my fill of Sea of Thieves, I will unsubscribe; unless Crackdown 3 gets released and then I will gladly keep the subscription for 6 more months. I really enjoy subscription based services because they allow you to sample a large variety of experiences and could expose you to something you never thought you might enjoy. Although I worry about the ability for consumers to own their purchased products. I love owning a large collection of films and music, which can be passed on to future generations and enjoyed without time limits. Digital media is always at risk of becoming obsolete and games have even recently become delisted from online marketplaces or altered in such a way that the original experience can no longer be had. For now I am optimistic about the Xbox Game Pass updates and am curious to see how it plays out in the future.

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Welcome to the Spoon Deep Podcast, a show where we critique, analyze, discuss, and most importantly, play video games. Listeners describe us as “fun, entertaining, and about video games!” Nailed it. Check out the website at spoondeep.com for a “DEEP” dive about what’s happening from all corners of the video game world.